Furnace roof hangers for refractory brick



Sept. 10, 1968 E. J. DICKSON 3,400,572

FURNACE ROOF HANGERS FOR REFRACTORY BRICK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 19, 1966 INVENTOR. Edwin J. Dickson :AT TORNEY P 10, 1958 I E. J. DICKSON 3,400,672

FURNACE ROOF HANGERS FOR REFRACTORY BRICK Filed May 19, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent i 3,400,672 FURNACE ROOF HANGERS FOR REFRACTORY BRICK Edwin J. Dickson, Augusta, Ga., assignor to The Babcock & Wilcox Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed May 19, 1966, Ser. No. 551,312 4 Claims. (Cl. 110-99) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A furnace roof arrangement comprising a plurality of hangers for supporting refractory brick. A multiplicity of bricks are attached to both sides of each hanger by irnpaling each brick to a group of tooth-like projections formed in the hanger plate. The projections in each group extend across the fiat surface of the plate in a series transverse to the longitudinal extent of the plate and at an acute angle thereto, a vertical slot is provided between each group to compensate for the differential in expansion between the bricks and the supporting hanger plate. The upper portion of each hanger receives suitable supporting hooks depending from overhead structure above the roof. Each hanger is capable of supporting a large number of bricks and the installation and replacement of the bricks can be readily accomplished on a mass basis as modules.

This invention relates to furnace wall structure, and more particularly to hangers for refractory brick forming a furnace roof or arch.

Furnace roofs and arches are usually constructed of contiguous horizontal rows of vertically elongated refractory brick supported in the row in side-by-side relationship. One type of prior art apparatus employs a hanger which is comolded with the brick and suspended from overhead structure. The present invention, however, is directed to a type of hanger which depends from the overhead structure and provides for impaling the brick to establish a supporting connection therewith.

More specifically, the hanger of the present invention comprises an elongated plate of generally flat form hav ing serrations or groups of tooth-like projections which are formed therein and bent outwardly of the plane of the plate to provide for impaling the brick thereon. The several groups of serraitons formed as projections in the hanger plate are at longitudinally spaced locations along the plate, the spacing being determined by the size of the brick to be accommodated. The serrations or projections in each group extend across the fiat surface of the plate in a series transverse to the longitudinal extent of the plate, and preferably at an acute angle thereto. Some of the projections of each group protrude from one side of the plate, while others of that same group protrude from the other side of the plate, all projections preferably being normal to the plate surface so as to be in best position to impale a refractory brick and establish a supporting connection therewith. There is further provided in the upper portion of each plate, at a level above the top of the bricks supported thereby, one or more apertures or other suitable formations for receiving a hooked end of a support member hanging from the structure overhead.

With the hanger construction of the present invention, a furnace roof can be made up in modules of refractory bricks arranged side by side in horizontal rows across the entire extent of the furnace area to be lined. In assembling such structure a hanger plate is sandwiched between neighboring rows of bricks, with each brick being impaled for its support on the tooth-like projection of each protrude from the hanger sides. The upper portion of each 3,400,672 Patented Sept. 10, 1968 hanger receives suitable supporting hooks depending from overhead structure above the roof. It is a feature of the present invention that each hanger is capable of supportmg a large number of bricks, preferably ten, and that installation and replacement of the bricks can be readily accomplished on a mass basis as modules.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a furnace roof or arch portion including the novel hanger and constructed and arranged according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating th several components which make up a module including a hanger constructed according to the invention and the refractory brick supported thereby. I

FIG. 2A is an enlarged fragmentary view of the hanger plate of FIG. 2 showing the arrangement of the serrations in the hanger plate,

FIG. 3 is a side view of a hanger plate constructed according to the invention but with the arrangement of projections being slightly different than that shown in FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a top view of the hanger plate of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is an end view of the same taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

In FIG. 1 a furnace roof portion is shown constructed with vertically elongated refractory brick 10 arranged side by side and in straight contiguous horizontal rows, with hangers 12 disposed between alternate rows of bricks 10. The hangers 12 support the bricks 10, for example ten bricks; and the hangers, in turn, are suspended from horizontal metal cross bars 14 by means of metal hooks 16, in the manner shown. Preferably, an assembly of five refractory bricks 10 is impaled and supported on each side of a hanger 12 by projections 18. The hangers 12 are arranged end-to-end in horizontal rows, there being one row of hangers between each two parallel rows of bricks 10. All joints between bricks 10 are mortared.

The hangers 12 are carried by the hooked-end metal support members 16 which engage the overhead supporting structure, the latter including spaced horizontal bars 14 preferably disposed transverse to the rows of bricks 10 and hangers 12.

The hangers 12 are preferably made from flat sheet steel stock suitable for stamping into the desired shape. The steel hanger stock is capable of resisting the temperature of the furnace in which it is to be installed. One form of hanger 12, shown in FIGS. 2 and 2A, has serrations 18 formed in a lower portion thereof and flanged holes 20 formed in an upper portion thereof. The flanges about the holes 20 are designated by the numeral 22, and they serve to reinforce the edges of the holes. The holes 20 are above the level of bricks 10 being supported, in position to receive the hooked lower ends of two support members 16, as best seen in FIG. 1. The tapered, tooth-like serrations 18 are formed in groups which are spaced apart along the length of the hanger 12, each group including two transverse series of serrations extending at an acute angle to the longitudinal extent of the hanger. Each group of serrations 18 for the hanger 12 of FIG. 2 is stamped according to the plan of FIG. 2A, and then they are alternately bent outwardly to opposite sides of the hanger so as to be normal to the flat surface adjacent thereto.

Thus formed, the serrations 18 are in good position to impale the bricks 10 and establish a supporting connection therewith; and the snug side-by-side arrangement of the bricks 10 paces their adjacent, non-impaled surfaces in an abutting relationship which holds one brick against the other to prevent relative movement which would tend to disengage the brick from the support connections. Yet, an entire group of ten bricks 10 can be removed intact with its hanger 12 from the roof assembly after disengaging the hanger from is associated support members 16; and a new group of hanger-supported bricks can be readily installed in the vacant space and remortared.

A vertical slot is provided between groups of serrations 18 Which is designated by the numeral 24. The function of the slots 24 is to allow for differential thermal expansion of the hanger 12 and the brick 10.

In FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, like reference numerals are employed to designate corresponding parts of the slightly modified hanger 12. In this embodiment of the invention, each series of projections 18 for the right-hand half of the hanger 12 is inclined in one transverse direction, at an acute angle, slightly less than 90 and considerably more than 45, to the longitudinal extent of the hanger. The series of projections 18 for the other half of the hanger 12 is inclined at the same angle but in opposite direction. Thus, the pair of corresponding projections 18 for the centermost group are inclined to one another, and the pairs of projections 18 for each of the other groups extend in spaced, parallel relationship with one another.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the projections 18 are bent to positions normal to the adjacent planar surface of the hanger 12, with alternate projections of each transverse series being bent in opposite directions. With the upper edge of each projection 18 extending horizontally, as shown in FIG. 5, point contact with the brick is avoided. As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the projections 18 of each series are slightly out of vertical alignment, because of the angular inclination of the series, thus advantageously permitting a maximum number of projections for supporting the bricks 10 to be provided over a given horizontal distance along the length of the hanger. Furthermore, with the projections of each series being vertically displaced, each projection would have to cut its own path entirely through the brick surface before a brick could slip from the hanger, whereas if all the projections were in vertical alignment an upper projection could follow through a path already cut by a lower projection.

One other advantage of the present invention is that the upper projections 18 are well shielded and protected since they are located remote from the heat of the furnace. The present arrangement is also considered to be advantageous from the standpoint of mechanical strength of the brick because with the staggered configuration of projections the minimum horizontal cross-sectional shear area of a brick is greater than for example, if all projections impaled the bricks in the same horizontal plane.

Still another advantage of the present invention is that the brick are, in effect, wedged between the sloping surfaces of adjacent projections, thus resisting downward slippage of the brick even if the projections do tend to cut grooves in the brick.

I claim:

1. A refractory brick furnace roof construction comprising:

a plurality of hangers arranged in spaced horizontal rows for supporting the refractory brick,

each of said hangers being composed of an elongated plate of generally fiat form, said plate being disposed in a vertical plane and having its longitudinal extent disposed horizontally,

each plate having an upper portion formed with a plunality of perforations and a lower portion having groups of tooth-like projections extending outwardly of the plane of the plate,

each of said groups of projections being spaced from one another along the length of the plate and the the projections in each group being arranged in a series extending transverse to the longitudinal extent of the plate,

some of said projections of each group extending outwardly of one side of the plate and other of the projections of each group extending outwardly of the other side of the plate,

a multiplicity of vertically elongated refractory bricks arranged side-by-side in horizontal rows along the respective sides of said hangers,

each brick being impaled and supported by the projections from one group extending from one side of a plate, and an overhead structure supporting said hangers.

2. A refractory brick furnace roof construction according to claim 1 wherein said plate includes a vertical slot between each group of projections.

3. A refractory brick furnace roof construction according to claim 1 wherein the projections of each group include a transverse series of projections which is at an acute angle to the longitudinal extent of the plate.

4. A refractory brick furnace roof construction according to claim 1 wherein said overhead supporting structure includes horizontally elongated bars above the level of said hangers, and one or more members connecting an upper portion of each hanger to said structure.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,120,133 6/1938 Kohler 52506 X 2,699,741 1/1955 Bowman 11O99 3,092,051 6/1963 Shapona et al ll099 3,172,171 3/1965 Knight 85-13 X FREDERICK L. MA'ITESON, JR., Primary Examiner. ROBERT A. DUA, Examiner. 

